Overview: Greek Budget, Europe’s Nominees and I.M.F. and World Bank Meetings
Greece will unveil its 2015 draft budget, hearings for vice-presidential nominees for the European Commission will be held, and the World Bank and I.M.F. open annual meetings in Washington.
Greece is set to unveil its draft budget for 2015 amid a review by envoys of the so-called troika of international creditors: the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. The contents of the budget have dominated negotiations between the government and the three agencies for the last week, with the Greek side pressing for permission to include some tax breaks to appease austerity-weary citizens and give the troubled coalition a much-needed boost as political and social tensions rise.
Hearings for nominees to vice presidential posts at the European Commission for digital matters, economy, energy and foreign policy were expected to take place on Monday and Tuesday at the European Parliament in Brussels. Lawmakers have asked for further written responses from nominees.
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank will begin their annual meetings on Tuesday in Washington. Before the meetings, the I.M.F. plans to release its World Economic Outlook with forecasts for major and developing nations.
Three former top government officials are expected to testify this week at a trial over a $40 billion lawsuit challenging the terms of the multibillion-dollar taxpayer bailout of the American International Group in 2008. Henry M. Paulson Jr., Treasury secretary at the time; Timothy F. Geithner, then the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and later Treasury secretary; and Ben S. Bernanke, then the chairman of the Federal Reserve, are expected to appear in the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington.
Source: NYT- Overview: Greek Budget, Europe’s Nominees and I.M.F. and World Bank Meetings
